


The Talk

by Waywardgoose



Series: Ironwitch pals [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (Only a tiny bit of angst though), Angst, Ava Starr Needs a Hug, Bisexual Tony Stark, Bisexual Wanda Maximoff, Coming Out, F/F, Found Family Feels, Gen, Implied past drug use, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Misunderstandings, PTSD, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, implied PTSD, vague mentions of childhood trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-03-20 15:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18995782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywardgoose/pseuds/Waywardgoose
Summary: In which Tony keeps giving his pseudo daughter the wrong ‘talk’ but get's it right eventually (Alternatively: Wanda meets the new girl and is totally not falling in love. Nope. Not even a little bit.)





	1. The Talk

Tony Stark wasn’t a religious man, but even he could agree Google was proof of the divine. Partly for how you could learn anything within a few clicks, mostly for teaching him about the marvelous realm of _mumsnet._

(Since apparently when you accidentally take ownership of a magical east european teen that’s what becomes of your life.)

 

 _‘Teenager won’t talk to me’ ‘Teenager runs away when I try to ask what’s wrong’ ‘how to find out what your teenager is hiding’ ‘Is my teenager doing drugs again’ ‘My teenager is an idiot how do I fix this’ ‘Kid won’t talk to me'_  were just some of the search terms he'd typed over and over as he skimmed the various forum threads.

   
Because here was the thing: Tony Stark was a genius. He could undoubtedly solve any problem given to him, It was even suggested by multiple scientists that if anyone could solve time travel, it would be him. Emotionally traumatised witches who grew up parentless on the streets of a warzone though? That wasn’t a problem with a logical solution because Wanda Maximoff’s very existence defied logic.

So he'd resorted to what any regular adult would do when confronted with failing grades and a sudden shift in behaviour. He'd _panicked_. He'd confronted her about the letter from her online school and demanded to know why she was getting back late on a saturday evening and Wanda had reacted in the way only she could- sparking red and accidentally setting the curtains on fire.

Which led him to resorting to the internet, the tried and tested-

“Tony Stark are you actually on a parenting forum?” an incredulous voice snapped him out of his research coma. He’d fallen so deep down the pages and pages of forums he’d entirely missed the fact Rhodey had walked in. “God you _are_. Is this about Maximoff? Cause you know she’s legally an adult, right?”

“ _Eighteen_. And she spent her youth sleeping on streets then got used as a pincushion for HYDRA” Tony quickly closed the tabs. “She’s got a long way to go”

“I’m not saying your wrong, but I just watched _Steve_ get his ass handed to him. Your kid’s terrifying” Hearing that made Tony’s chest swell with pride just a little. At least she wasn’t terrible at _everything_.

“Yeah? Cause she’s also failing seventh grade maths”

Rhodey frowned a little as he took a seat next to his best friend. “Well...have you tried talking with her about it?”

“Did you see the scorch marks on the walls? I tried! she got angry and stormed off again. Pepper said to give her space but then she shows up drunk on my couch crying without saying _why_ or with a good reason for skipping curfew”

“You two have weird boundaries” Tony couldn’t argue with that but he still rolled his eyes extra hard to show Rhodey his disdain. “Seriously, Tony. She’s not your responsibility”

That he could argue with. She became his responsibility when he sold his bombs to the Sokovian government thinking only about the quick buck he'd make from it. Sokovia was allies with the US at the time and his younger, ignorant self didn't bat an eyelid or consider why the country was tearing itself apart. He didn't consider the casualties, Children like Wanda suddenly left homeless and alone to fend for themselves.

The tragedy that had become of Wanda Maximoff's life always went back to his bombs. Sure, she'd told him over and over it was her and Pietro's stupidity that fed them to the hands of HYDRA, but they were kids, damnit. Kids who'd been left alone for so long of course they'd jump at the first chance of safety, a way to fight back and Wanda spent hour upon hour training alongside the Avengers to make amends and praying to her ancestors, to her g-d for forgiveness.

Tony understood her in that way, only for him forgiveness didn't come in the form of prayers. Forgiveness came in the form of looking after the lonely girl he'd accidentally doomed to a path of destruction age 10.

As much as he loved Rhodey, he'd never get that. Rhodey was a damn saint for putting up with all of Tony's shit over the years. He'd never need to atone for mistakes because as far as Tony was aware, Rhodey had never made them. The mechanic sighed and pinched between his eyes. “I _know_ , but she’s acting like I did at her age. Worse, in fact. I want her to be better than that”

“So tell her that?” When Tony ignored him Rhodey quickly added “She’s probably just busy with her new friend and forgot to study”

“Her...who?” That was news to him. Wanda didn’t make friends. She was mulish and awkward and tightly wrapped in grief, still trying to navigate through the culture shock of going from having nothing to everything she could ever desire. Her friends- hell all her social interactions in general- were limited to himself, the Avengers, Pepper and Peter.

“Yeah, the girl Scott Lang keeps bringing over?” Rhodey frowned in disbelief. “Wanda really hasn’t told you about her? You two gossip more than my grandmother”

She really hadn’t told him about her. It sort of stung. Wanda told him everything- too much, probably. The girl had no filter whatsoever. She didn’t keep secrets, not from hi. Tony pushed it aside and ignored the sting of hurt inside him. “I’ll probably hear all about it when she stops sulking at me. So! you ready to do a Test flight for your Mark IV suit?”

 

Focusing on the upgrades to the war machine suit worked well and combined with his insomnia Tony had almost entirely forgot his conversation with Rhodey. Till he got the email.

Never in Tony’s life did he imagine he’d have to have the give someone the ‘ _school is important and so is your attendance_ ’ talk. Mostly, because he thought he was safe in the knowledge that both the idiot kids he’d ended up with were invested in learning. Peter was a perfect little nerd to the point May Parker had asked him to babysit him when Peter got down with the flu because she didn’t trust him not to go in anyway.

Wanda on the other hand-

Wanda had spent so long wishing to go to school and had, whilst failed several classes, never missed a lesson yet. still, In the few hours since getting the email his brain went to a standstill and he was left reevaluating everything he knew because she skipped her _exam_.

Wanda was skipping _online_ school- Arguably worse than skipping regular school because she could have taken the test in bed.

Given Wanda’s unique education, the education psychologists that had tested her for dyslexia and the likes had informed them that slipping grades were to be expected. She was racing through several years of studies in a matter of months. Of _course_ making the leap from sixth grade to seventh grade after a only a week meant certain gaps were to be expected.

(This was after all, the girl who could do such a wide range of things like navigate by starlight or hotwire a car, but was at a complete loss when asked about the science behind them. She was intelligent in a self taught disaster way)

They just had to support her as best they could whilst juggling her training for the Avengers and dealing with the physiological fallout of the last eight years of her existence. So Pepper found private tutors and handed out NDAs like candies and every one of them had quit. Apparently, teaching Wanda was like teaching a brick wall that sparkled when angry.

So the ball was firmly in Wanda’s court. Of course, Tony tried to slog his way through teaching her maths and Rhodey had valiantly taught her American History- Natasha covered languages and Clint did his best at Geography but it was up to the witch to put the effort in.

Which apparently wasn’t something she felt like doing anymore, given the sudden dip in both grades _and_ attendance.

 

When Steve dropped her off on the Friday evening Tony waited for her to say something, anything as to why she’d ignored her responsibilities.

Instead, she asked if he wanted to bake cookies with her, cause apparently whatever she was being so shady over lately had flipped her priorities entirely.

And yes, normal circumstances he’d have loved to bake cookies with her because that childlike wonder left in her came out in waves whenever he got _Dum_ \- _E_ to mix the batter.

 

(The damn witch had him tied round her pinkie finger)

 

Still Tony forced himself to be bad cop yet again and glowered till the witch’s expression shifted to the perfect picture of anxiety. She shifted nervously on the spot and took deep a deep breath of the peppermint tea she’d made herself, refusing to break eye contact first. Stubborn creature.

“I’d rather you tell me what’s going on” Tony prompted “You missed your history exam”

She instantly relaxed. “Yes, I had extra training”

“Did Steve sign off on it?”

“I didn’t ask” She waved a hand over her teacup and with careful precision floated the tea bag into the trash.

“So you thought you’d skip an exam to hit a few punching bags?” Tony rapped his figers against the granite worktop he was leaning on as she put the tea caddy back in the cupboard.  

“It was more important”

Right. Cause education clearly wasn’t important.

Tony wasn’t sure what brawn is better than brains lessons she’d picked up at the new Avengers facility but he certainly didn’t like it.

 “Are you determined to remain an idiot?

The air around her seemed to crackle in irritation. “ _Excuse me_?”

“I got your grades from this semester. A child could do better. In fact there are children right now doing better. Look. _Look_ what you got”  He slid the mark sheet from her previous maths test across the table. Wanda frowned as she looked at the score.

“Twenty-two” She read aloud.

“Twenty two _percent_! It’s a fail, Wanda” Wanda gritted her teeth, cast her eyes to the floor as she cursed him out in Sokovian. Tony made a mental note to make a swear jar or simply reinstate a bedtime, since apparently whatever delayed teen rebellion she was going through left her acting like a damn child.

“What do you want me to say? I did my best”

“ _Bullshit_. We both know you’re not trying”

“ _Am_!” she insisted, her voice growing defensive. 

“Then try harder” The sound Wanda made was how Tony was feeling- a unique mix of anger and frustration before she turned on her heal and stormed off to her bedroom, a string of Sokovian curse words in her wake.

“ _Don’t slam the door_ ” He yelled after her.

 

There was an almighty bang as she ignored him completely.

 (Damn brat.)

 

She didn’t leave her room for dinner and then tried to make a point of ignoring him all of saturday much to the amusement of Pepper and irritation of him. Apparently being one of the only people to care about her education made him the villain in her mind. Still, she waited till he was in the room to loudly tell Pepper how she was going to take the exam and then he could stop being mad.

As if _he_ was the one sulking somehow. Tony ignored her, pushed aside the nervous energy that was coming off her in waves as she waited for someone to validate her and his heart twisted in his chest because _dammit_ he wasn’t a monster- he knew how important it was for her to know she was secure and safe in her relationships.

It was somewhat of a relief when Pepper managed to send off to take the stupid test, even if she teased Tony relentlessly till he gave up waiting around and went to his workshop to carry on the adjustments to Rhodey’s suit.

It was a little before dinner when Wanda slunk down to visit him holding out a smoothie in contrition. He let her stew in her worry, taking a little longer than necessary to wipe the motor oil off his hands. “So you finished sulking?”

Wanda’s eyes narrowed, instantly defensive. “Are you going to yell about my class?”

“Depends, should I?”

“ _Nem_! Look, _sixty four_!”

The voice in his head that sounded like Howard Stark told him to punish her. Tell her it wasn’t good enough and brought up all those finicky childhood memories of his own failures. He ignored it and had FRIDAY blast ‘ _we are the champions_ ’ across the tower, relishing in how the scarlet witch could _really_ live up to her name when embarrassed.

 

Her grades steadily improved again and Tony fell into the false sense of security that whatever was happening with her had been nipped in the bud. He’d forgotten of course, with Wanda you always had to be on your toes for the next disaster.

He’d spent most of the Wednesday playing with the engine on Rhodey’s new suit’s thrusters before he realised he’d have to change the design entirely and decided to call it quits for the night. He’d settled down for the evening sprawled out reading the newest thesis Jane Foster had written on ‘ _Einstein-Rosen bridges’_ as he waited for Pepper to escape the board meeting she’d been trapped in.

“Pep?” He called out.

“No, me” Wanda answered before FRIDAY could say anything. She kicked her sandals off by the door and made a beeline for the kitchen. Long gone were the days of her waiting around awkwardly to be offered food.

“You’re out of fruit pops” she told him as she raided the freezer. “Did you know?”

“You had the last one sunday”

She shut the door abruptly. “And you haven’t got more since?”

“I would have If I knew you were coming” He set the StarkPad he reading on and sat up so she could sit with him. “Why are you here? Don’t you have training tomorrow”

Wanda flopped down next to him, and pulled her legs up under her so she was half crouched. It really couldn’t have been a comfortable way of sitting, but apparently along with basic maths the girl didn’t know how to sit on chairs either. “Mm, going home soon, But I need to talk with Pepper”

“She’s at a board meeting- don’t look so miserable, she should be out soon. Is it urgent?”

“It’s just medical exam. Doctor Cho told me I should get a plant and...I don’t know what to do, so I wanted to ask her”

“What type of plant?” He’d be damned if he let Wanda smoke weed again. Medical or not, she was on a slippery slope with those things from what happened to her in Sokovia and-

“Medical plant” Wanda chimed in. Right. _Medical_.

 

Tony was definitely going to have harsh words with Doctor Cho.

 

  
“No, absolutely not”

“You can’t stop me” Wanda said into her phone.

Wait, Her _phone_?

Tony did a double take as he realised she was clearly texting on it- the same phone she barely acknowledged existing. The one with at _least_ four unanswered texts from him because Wanda ‘I grew up in a war zone’ Maximoff used it to take photos of dead things (an intervention for another day with a lot more whisky) not communicate.

A small part of him was pleasantly surprised to see her using it. A more responsible voice in him was irked by how she’d chosen that moment to do so.

Yet there she was, the living stereotype of teenage rebellion, tapping away in the middle of what he considered a fairly important discussion.

He cleared his throat and waited for her to look up, because he’d seen a lot of movies in his time and well it worked in those.

  
Only real life never works like in the movies so he snapped his fingers in front her her till she looked up.

  
“What? It’s true! Doctor Cho said it was my choice”

“You know It’s not good for you” She’d already proven that when she’d tried to smoke away her feelings after a particularly bad few days. Steve had called him in to deal with an increasingly paranoid witch who was convinced she could see twin’s ghost.

He wasn’t taking some grand moral stance over it- Tony had messed around with that stuff in his youth and he’d have been fine with her experimenting if she wasn’t already the product of someone else’s experimentation, but Wanda’s body was a mystery to the medical team and learning the heightened side effects of marijuana was nothing short of a nightmare. Tony really wasn’t in a rush to be back at her bedside on ward again.  

   
It’s not like she hadn’t fooled around with them enough either, as awful as _that_ thought was.  

   
“I thought that? But Doctor Cho said it’s harmless even if thinking of it inside me makes my spine crack” Wanda shuddered. “The idea I have things inside of me? It makes me want to cut myself open”

Well that was a fun train of thought. His eyes darted to her forearms, currently hidden by the long sleeves of her favourite black skater dress. “You’re not skipping out on therapy again are you?”

“No! _No_. I mean, Doctor Cho said I need this plant, so I don’t have to take even more pills and I would like that, but it still makes me uncomfortable, she said It goes in my arm- where they found the tracker from HYDRA”

  
Oh. _Implant_.

   
If Doctor Cho was bringing it up with her, that meant she was-

Well that was something he didn’t want to think about. He was an adult, for crying out loud. Of course he could deal with the idea of Wanda getting it on with someone.

 

(But she was an emotional being and the idea of her getting hurt by some fuck boy-)

   
Maybe that was why she was acting up. Hell, he could understand that, he’d been a drama queen over relationships at her age.

   
“You know you can come to me with uh, any... _questions_ ”

Wanda looked up from her phone again and beamed at him indulgently. “I know”  

“And I’m glad you’re being safe”

Wanda snorted. “Safe means boring”

“Oi. _No_ . You get them tested or you make them glove it” _That_ got her attention. Wanda cocked her head, the look on her face like she was deciphering a particularly tricky puzzle before she blinked in surprise.

“Wait...Tony is this a _talk_? I do know how to have sex”

“Safe sex? With condoms?” He instantly regretting asking the moment the words fell out of his mouth. If hell was real, he was living in it. He really should have left it to Pepper.

“Oh” It was Wanda’s turn to go scarlet. “I- uh- Don’t worry. I learn on the streets”   

   
His mind stuttered, torn between trying to push the implications of what she said on Wanda’s sometimes-loose grasp of english and storming the Sokovian authorities on the off chance someone had done something horrific to his semi adopted-daughter. He settled for patting her knee a little awkwardly in a terribly strained show of affection.

   
Tony cleared his throat. “Uh. _Right_ . That’s uh, Good. You should Use them. And If you need to talk about _anything_ ” He tried. Wanda pulled a face and reached in her pocket for her phone again and he gracefully took the hint. “So you wanna wait for Pepper or…?”

   
Apparently the tension was getting to Wanda too, as she quickly leapt for a way to divert the conversation. “Can we get more fruit pops?”

“Yep grab your coat”

 

And just like that, the mystery of Wanda’s erratic behaviour slipped to the back burner of Tony’s mind as he desperately tried to pretend that trainwreck of a talk didn’t happen and worried about her romantic life instead.   

 

Not that that he was left in the dark about that for much longer.

( but, If he hadn’t arrived at the compound half an hour early on the friday, he might never have caught them.)

 

After some light hearted bantering and catching up on gossip with Natasha she’d directed him to the common room where Wanda had last been seen. Only Wanda wasn’t alone. She was leaning against the counter with a girl a few centimeters shorter than her wearing a grey hoodie and black sweats. She looked young- around the same age as Wanda, with beautiful tawny beige skin and long dark hair that fell in front of her face as the girls took spoons of nutella straight from the jar.

“Hey, Hot topic” Wanda started, her spoon clattering to the worktop as she sparked red.

“Tony! You early” she managed to blabber out, her gaze flicking rapidly between the girl and him.

“Wands? Who’s this?” The girl stood next to her asked, amusement burning in her green eyes.

“Right. uh...Tony this is Ava, Ava- this is Tony” Wanda garbled. “You should go right Ava? You’re- we must be late- I mean, you might make Scott late”

“Chill, Sabrina, i’m early”

“ _Da_ , For once” she grumbled.

The girl, _Ava,_ gave a soft smile as she waved her free hand in greeting.

“it's so nice to finally meet you, Wanda talks about you all the time”

“Really? She’s never told me about you” He pretended not to hear the trace elements of bitterness in his voice.

“That’s because Wanda is-” The girl flickered like a glitch in the matrix, her own spoon falling from her grip.

“ _Ava_!” Wanda grabbed for her, her hand falling through the space where she should be. “Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

“I’m fine” she gently reached for Wanda’s hands and grasped them between her own flickering ones. “You worry too much”

“Uh, Hey what’s this?” They both looked at him as though they’d forgotten he was even in the room to begin with.

“Oh. Sorry. It’s my affliction- molecular disequilibrium. Courtesy of our common enemy, I suppose” Ava told him, as if _that’s_ what he was asking about. He’d seen all sorts of crazy shit since becoming Iron man but he’d never thought he’d see the day Wanda was tender with _anyone_.

“Molecular Disequilibrium? So you must be _the Ghost_ then”

“So you _have_ heard of me” she smiled thinly.   

“Heard of your condition” Tony had heard of molecular disequilibrium and _laughed_. It was the kind of fuck up that came from playing god with things beyond human understanding. He didn’t look into it beyond the whispers that fell upon his ears at various expos and events, SHIELD archives that referenced the monstrous end result.

Shit.

She couldn't have been much older than Wanda- she was so much _younger_ than he’d imagined.

  
Ava looked away, suddenly interested in Wanda’s face, and Wanda moved just slightly as if to protect her from him. (As if a SHIELD trained child assassin would need protection from _anyone_ ) Not that said assassin seemed to care, she was too busy trailing her fingers across Wanda’s chin. It violated most of Wanda’s ‘no sudden physical contact’ rules and somehow made Tony irrationally annoyed.

“You have chocolate spread on your chin” She said airly, her eyes locked with Wanda’s as if it really were just them in the room.

Wanda looked at Ava like she was a work of art to be admired crossed with a worn heirloom to be cherished. Something you keep at arm's length and in the darkest parts of your heart all at the same time.

Tony knew that look. He'd seen the same love sick puppy expression on Steve everytime Natasha walked in the room. He noticed in then, the final piece to the puzzle that had been alluding him for weeks on end.

Wanda was in _love_.

  
(Wanda was in love with a girl)

  
_Oh_.

 

And just like that, all the little things he’d been noticing made a bit more sense.

Like how she was skipping out on studying to spend time training instead, her sudden interest in texting and- _oh boy_ \- how Doctor Cho had suddenly grown interested in Wanda’s sexual health.

Knowing why Wanda was distancing herself wasn’t an instant cure. Maybe it helped him and eased his spiralling mind from trying to figure out what emotional landmine he’d been stepping on, but he couldn’t make it any easier for Wanda until Wanda was ready to talk about it. He’d been through the same damn thing and apparently they were in the habit of collecting parallels like sweet wrappers.

And he really hoped she’d never have to go through the exact same problems he’d faced with his sexuality. The media already loved to drag her through the mud, if her private life ever got out they’d have a damn field day.

  
They purposely didn’t talk about Ava on the car ride back to the penthouse. Wanda gave him a challenging glance or two but let him half heartedly berate her about her grades without argument. They didn’t get a chance to talk about her for the rest of the evening either- Tony refused to get sidetracked because _the witch was going to learn logarithms if it killed him_. He would attest to it nearly getting the better of him a few times, but the joy on her face when she finally got it was worth the struggle.

  
Then the nightmares came for her (as they always did.)

 

It wouldn’t be a weekend with Wanda if there wasn’t the screams of a banshee spilling into the night. Thank for for soundproofing, or poor Pepper wouldn’t get any sleep between the two of them.  

So Wanda creeped into his workshop, the sound of the doors softly sliding open her only greeting and he ordered her to make them both some coffee whilst he tightened screws on the vibranium plates he was working with and quizzed her on state capitals.

He made fun of her for forgetting New York till she casually asked for the name of three Sokovian Cities and he couldn’t think of any besides Novi Grad.

Admitting defeat, he quickly changed the subject. Specifically, he told her about the time his father caught him fooling around with his college roomate and his knee jerk reaction was to try pretend they were rehearsing for a play.

(He left out the details of the bile Howard Stark spat at him for having his tongue down another guys throat)

  
It wasn’t the smoothest way of bringing up the sexual orientation chat, but it was the best he could come up with and it _worked_.

“You like men?” Wanda asked, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. Part of tony bristled at her question, instantly defensive from habit.

“Why are you going to be weird about it?”

“No. I just never knew. Thank you for telling me” The sincerity in her voice tightened something in his chest and as uncomfortable as feelings were he was instantly thankful he didn’t bail out and talk about something inane.

 

They sat in comfortable silence, till Wanda faked a yawn and told him she was off to sleep. He was about to go himself when his phone pinged with a new text from Wanda.

 

_[1:09AM]:_

_Arr You a live?_

 

Tony had to take a second to decipher her spelling before replying.

 

**[1:10AM]:**

**Are you using your phone by choice?**

 

Tony carried on to the elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse, his eyes watching the small animated dots that indicated typing.

 

[1:14AM]:

_??? I use it earlier?? >:^( !!!!! _

 

[1:14AM]:

_Can I tell you a secrate?_

 

Tony stood outside her room, considered knocking a then ignored that whim entirely. Whatever she wanted to say was clearly a bundle of complicated emotions and as he hadn’t learnt any Sokovian beyond curse words and sappy things like _‘family’_ and _‘father’_ it was doubtful he’d be able to understand any words that spill out of her.

 

**[1:16AM]:**

**You mean secret.**

**[1:16AM]:But yes. Shoot.**

 

Tony watched the bubble of dots appear and disappear over and over. His finger hovered over the call button, torn between putting her out of her misery and letting her do it at her own pace.

 

Even if her own pace was excruciatingly slow.

 

_[1:27AM]:_

_I like girls._

 

_[1:27AM]:_

_Goodnight._

 

(He instantly regretted not pressing the damned button.)

 

Breakfast was tense- tense enough to make Pepper scold him for _‘giving her such a hard time lately’_ . Tony almost felt bad about that but Wanda was the physic not him _dammit_ and they could have avoided so many awkward discussions if she’d just opened up to him.

(Maybe that was a little unreasonable. He knew how scary that kind of thing was but _still_ , he wanted her to trust him)

He waited till she wandered off to the rooftop before he decided it was better to put them out of their joint misery and talk about the elephant in the room. She flinched slightly as the door closed behind him but she stayed put on the concrete, her eyes fixed on the flickering lights of the new york skyline.

Tony cleared his throat and he she didn’t say anything he took her silence as permission to sit next to her. Besides, it _was_ his building. “So you wanna talk about last night?”

“ _Nem_ ”

“You sure?”

She ignored him, fiddled with the rings on her fingers.

 _Uhuh_ . Tony thought. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. “Well. If you _were_ telling me you’re gay I gotta tell you I’m not surprised. I mean, how many times have you watched Buffy now?” He regretted it the moment it was out of his mouth. For a genius, he really could put his foot in it. The whole conversation was fast becoming a mistake- It felt awfully close to deep and meaningful and dammit that was Barton’s territory not his.

She looked at her hands as though they were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

  
“It’s a secret, right?” Relief washed over her face and she finally looked up at him.

“So. Who’s your type? Nat? Pepper?” Wanda flushed. “Jesus, Maximoff are you hot for _my_ woman?” Tony shook his head. “I knew it! I can’t believe we have the same taste in women”

“We don’t! Pepper is a _goddess_ ! She’s everyone's type _apart_ from mine” and he already knew that. He'd used google translate to figure out her particular secret nickname for Pepper a while back.

(As it turned out, Mama means the same thing in Sokovian _and_ American)

 

“Can’t argue with that. What is your type? Darcy Lewis is single. She’s a little too old for you though and pretty tight with Thor- I’m not sure Hawkdaddy will like it If we get you a girlfriend he can’t threaten” he deliberately avoided mentioning Ava.

“I don’t need a girlfriend” Her eyes darted around the room as if there could be hidden cameras or microphones. “When I think about girls it makes my heart hurt, and I get dizzy like I cannot breathe and my brain is dying”

“So _that_ explains the 22%” She glowered at him but gracefully ignored his jab in favour of getting all intense on him, twisting her rings around on her fingers as she tried to formulate the right words.

“How did you um, how did you…? _learn_?” Her voice was small and glassy and part of him wanted to pretend he didn’t hear however Wanda’s native language was emotion more than anything else, it seemed only fair to use it on such an important topic.

“That i’m Bi? I had the unholy joy of jerking it to an old framed photo of Steve when I was a teen. Didn’t expect i’d have to meet the man”

Wanda cackled. Bloody witch. “ _Really_?”

“Really. Come on, I told you mine- how’d you learn?” Wanda bit her lip and leaned in a little close as if to keep the rest of the world from hearing.

“I learnt from Pietro’s first girlfriend. People like matching sets” Well shit. He gaped at her, brain stuttering in overdrive as he tried to force himself to say something, _anything-_ “Oh hush, you don’t get to think you is better. So... what happen when you meet Steve?”

“Besides horrifying flashbacks? I played it cool”

“You’re never cool, Old man” He decided to ignore that. Tony already had it on drunk Wanda’s authority that she wanted to be more like him one day.

“Did Pietro know?” Now he was really playing with fire. Pietro was a conversation they normally reserved for when they cracked out hard liquor.

“Yeah, he did, he was the same- we both- _Biseksualan_ . I think the english is _Bi_ you said? We just never said it out loud. _I_ haven’t said it out loud” She confessed. “There was this girl- Ilze, we- before HYDRA, We are- were fifteen and we’d- there was a bomb at the market” Tears welled in her eyes, a mix of frustration from fumbling at the words and something deeper, a wound that she’d ignored for longer than they’d ever really know.

“After our first time all I could think was at least I never have to tell Mama or Tata. I felt sick afterwards, and i’d tell them anything to have them here but it was still a relief at the time. Like, they’d never have the chance to stop loving me”

“I don’t think they would have, if you got to tell them” What she’d told them, what he’d been able to piece together- the Elder Maximoff’s had been so full of love for the twins they’d have moved mountains to keep them safe.

(and selfishly, he had to believe they were that good, that wonderful, because it took away some of the guilty ache he felt all the time if he could believe Wanda had gotten ten good years of unconditional love before it all went to shit)

  
“It doesn’t matter does it? I’m worried for telling The others- Steve and Clint and Nat, _everyone_. Maybe, If they know, everyone will hate me again”

“Sweetheart, we’ve seen you eat a pizza slice off the pavement. If that didn’t turn us away nothing will”

Wanda threw her arms around him, buried her face in his chest. After the momentary suprise passed, Tony wrapped his arms around her and did an awkward mix of patting her on the back and trying to rub it in a soothing manner as she cried on him. “You are idiot”

“Yeah, I Love you too, kiddo” He kissed the crown of her head before “Thanks for telling me”

 

Things went back to normal after their fumbled attempt at talking about their feelings- better even. The walls Wanda had slowly been placing between them again came crashing down and she was back to the tempramental idiot he’d come to know and love only now he had the added bonus of a carrot at the end of the stick. Wanda had been slacking off on science only for him to casually mention how atoms were related to Ava’s particular problem and she was in front of her textbook again in no time.

And it felt nice, being trusted with such a secret. Their habit of finding parallel after parallel was disheartening in most cases- he’d never wish his nightmares on anyone else much less a kid under half his age- but it was good to finally talk to someone who got it.

They skirted around it most of the time, the only noticeable difference was now they could outright agree on blanket statements such as “Shakira is a goddess” and intensely debate who was the more attractive between legolas and Aragorn.

(Wanda claimed the main reason Legolas was better was because he could shoot arrows and Tony was pretty sure Freud would have a field day with that statement, so he tried not to think on it too much)

  
She was sat spinning on a chair in one of his old MIT hoodies that buried her and the same black leggings she seemed to have lived in all weekend when she brought it up properly.

“Oi. Stop before you make yourself dizzy _again_ ” Tony really wasn’t up for a redo of the last time she’d gone around too quickly, even if the blast of psionic energy was particularly entertaining to watch. She slammed her foot down on the ground and stopped “Spit it out”

“I think, I like women more” She said slowly, testing the words out. “It’s confusing”

 

“That’s okay. It took me years to figure it out properly” He was still figuring it out Whatever. Give the kid hope.  

Wanda pushed off from the chair she was sat on and propped herself on top of his work bench instead. He didn’t bother arguing, just held out his hand so she could pass him the wrench she’d shifted out the way. Wanda had all the charm of a particularly aloof house cat at times and certainly all the mildly destructive tendencies. “Does Pepper know?”

“Of course she does” She’d had to kick an fairly equal ratio of men and women out of his bed after one night stands.

“And she still loves you”

“Hope so”

“No no- not a question. She still loves you” Wanda nodded to herself. “It feels thick but soft and nice. Like shampoo” Trust Wanda to compare something as nuanced and complicated as love to _head and shoulders_.

“Amazing, you’re a secret poet”  

“So If I tell Pepper, she will not…?” Wanda pulled her sleeves over her hands and tucked her knees up against her chest.

“Relax, sweetheart. Pepper _adores_ you” As if that was a strong enough word. Pepper had all but adopted her the first day they met despite having waxed lyrical only hours before on how she’d throw one of her six inch heels at the witch who messed with his mind.

Apparently, her soft spot for messy orphans won out because there were days Pepper looked into making whatever _this_ was legally binding and adopting the Sokovian officially. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t see where she was coming from. If Wanda was theirs on paper it would be a hell of a lot easier to protect her from the whims of the american government.

The only reason he hadn’t brought it up with the teen was the lingering guilt over what happened to her real parents.

“I want to tell Clint, also” She dragged him out his spiralling thoughts. “I’m not sure how, but I want him to know...maybe Pepper first, to be less scary”

“Baby steps” Tony nodded in agreement “There’s no rush”. No rush to tell anyone, no rush to spill her heart. The paparazzi made sure he hadn’t been able to go at his own pace and he’d do anything to stop Wanda going through _that_.

“ _I_ _know_ ” there was something in her answer, in the twinkle in her large green eyes that told him she was replying to the words unsaid. A conversation within the conversation that whilst he appreciated left him feeling uncomfortable and too open so he ordered her to make herself useful and zap the coffee pot warm again.

  
She didn’t complain.

 

When Wanda told Pepper, Pepper thanked her for sharing and held her tightly, dropping a kiss on her forehead as she mother henned her and showered her with kind words. It went exactly how Tony imagined it going. The only thing it changed was Pepper gently reminding Wanda how loved she was throughout the day. The witch had spent the evening nestled between the two of them as they watched Lilo and stitch yet again.

A small part of Tony deeply regretted introducing her to that movie, but he was pretty sure they could get a medal for the kickass job at parenting they were doing. He didn’t even complain about her crying on them. Life had been harsh enough for Wanda, she deserved this. Deserved time to be soft and weak with the people she’d come to love and look up to. She deserved whatever love and support Pepper could give her.

  
(That he tried to give her too, even if he was bad at it sometimes)

It was sort of healing for him too, not that he’d ever admit it. Wasting time with his small family of the love of his life and their angsty teen adoptee was fast becoming a favourite pastime of his. Apparently old age sends you soft like that.

  
Another thing that came with old age was being early all the time, which was only obvious by how comically late Wanda _always_ was. After the emotional rollercoaster of Wanda opening up to them she’d been sent on mission in Tunisia for a whole damn month.

She came back with a tan and (thankfully) no bullet wounds, though she didn’t exactly stay on the sidelines. Sam had sent a video to the avengers group chat of Wanda holding the full force of an exploding bomb inside one of her shields. It would have been amazing, had it not been for the way she was flung into the air by the sudden energy burst.

(Even then, it was still kind of cool)

  
Pepper had insisted on her meeting them for lunch after she’d taken a day to sleep off the excitement of the mission. They’d booked a table at the nearest shawarma place to the facility that had Kosher options for Wanda but the damn witch was still twenty minutes late by the time she finally dragged herself in and sat across the booth from them.He didn’t have it in him to be mad at her for it.

Seeing her there, a little rough around the edges but alive and _breathing_ lifted a weight off Tony’s chest. She was okay _, she was alive_. Wanda seemed fine besides some bruises and a scratch to her forehead, but it was enough to make Pepper berate her for not being careful.

“At least I didn’t get shooted again” Wanda laughed but quickly realised neither of her pseudo parents found it funny. “...Sorry. and sorry I’m late, Ava came to see i’m alive and I misplaced the time”

“Lost track of time” Tony corrected as he thrust the menu across the table to her “So, have you confessed your undying love yet?”

“ _Tony_!” Pepper chided, before throwing a sorry smile at Wanda. “But I am curious too”

“I will! If I learn she likes girls” Pepper patted the back of her hand as Tony slid the menu across to her.

“Well, have you asked her, honey?”

“Uh...um. I was hoping I can get someone else too? Like maybe-”

“No” They both replied. Wanda huffed, a garbled noise between amusement and annoyance.

“ _Please?_ ” She tried again.  
  
They were subjected to big sad orphan eyes till Pepper finally cracked. “Invite her over for dinner next week”

“ _Really_?”

“Of course” She leaned across the booth and gave a conspiratorial grin. “I haven’t had the chance to meet her yet”   

“So. Did you beat up any Nazis?”

“ _So_ many!” Wanda beamed as she recounted what Tony was pretty sure was classified information.

 

They settled for dinner on the Friday evening and Wanda left the Avenger’s facility early so she could cook Paprikash to give everyone. It made the penthouse smell _lovely,_ and if it meant she’d do it more often Tony would invite the damn Ghost assassin over every week. 

When Wanda’s fretting got too much for Pepper to handle whilst on her video conference she’d been banished to the workshop so Peter and Tony could watch over her and stop her from sparking out with nervousness.

As great as she was, he’d already had to replace two sofas, and a pair of curtains because of her temperamental magic and emotions.

She really _was_ like a house cat sometimes. 

“Maybe I should get changed” Tony was pretty sure she’d already changed her outfit twice. He definitely remembered seeing her in black skinny jeans before, but she was now wearing a black shirt dress with knee socks.

  
No shoes, though.

(Idiot.)

  
He really needed to bring back the _‘wear appropriate footwear in the workshop_ ’ rule so she wouldn’t accidentally break a bone on some machinery.  

“Maybe you should sit down, hot topic. You look _fine_ , so stop stressing before you upset DUM-E”

Wanda glowered at the robot that was scuttling around near Peter. “But she’s late and I can’t get hold of her” Wanda grumbled. Tony bit back his response of ‘Karma’s a bitch’.

If anything, their mutual disregard of timekeeping would make them extremely compatible. Besides their other mutual traits of course; they were both hotheads with belief in the supernatural, distrust of the world and anger against the government cornerstones of their identities.

(They were _also_ both angsty orphan’s turned former child soldiers who had been lied to, manipulated and experimented on by the same terrorist organisation that was masquerading as SHIELD when they joined)

  
It was practically fate, if you believed in such things.  

  
“Did you try your Ouija board?” Tony grinned and Wanda actually laughed at that one- however begrudgingly.

“Who’s late?” Peter looked up from the circuit board he was rewiring. “Is it the black widow? Is the black Widow coming around?”

“No, sorry. Wanda’s Boo is coming over dinner” Wanda had come out to Peter when they met at Wanda’s favourite hippy coffee joint earlier that day. Apparently Peter told her it was a _‘Big mood’_ and whilst, Tony still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, Wanda seemed satisfied with the response.

“ _Wait_. You have a boo now?”

“No” Wanda replied, not looking up from her phone. “We’re _friends_ ”

“Well do I know her? What’s she like? Do you like her?”

“She’s called Ava, or _Ghost_ , and she’s...special” Wanda flushed and adjusted her hair for the hundredth time since she came down to the workshop. “She walk through the walls” Her accent a little heavier than usual. Tony noticed her hands were shaking and he hoped Pepper would be finished soon so he wouldn’t be left with crying again.

“NO WAY” Peter grinned “Wanda your like. next level goth” Wanda’s phone pinged and she started.

“Oh. She’s here. I’ll be back in second- If either of you make her uncomfo..uncom…”

“Uncomfortable” Tony corrected.

“Yes. If you make her sad I make you hurt” She said defiantly before striding out the room.

“She’s really into her isn’t she?”

“You have no idea kid. Come on, Underoos. You better clean up if you want Paprikash, your sister’s a monster” The words slipped of his tongue without thinking, but Peter didn’t seem to notice, he was too busy firing off hundreds of questions about their guest.

   
By the time they’d gotten to the penthouse, Ava and Wanda were already chatting with Pepper in the kitchen. Wanda was using her scarlet to dish out the broth like meal into dishes. Even after all the months he’d known her, it was still a pretty remarkable sight to watch.  
  
From the way Ava was staring at her, Tony was pretty sure she’d agree.

Not that Wanda eye’s didn’t keep drifting over to her, either. Ava was dressed in black skinny jeans and a red tartan shirt that Tony was pretty sure belonged to the witch (after she stole it from Clint). He’d call it a taste of her own medicine if she wasn’t looking at Ava like she was a work of art in it.

Pepper noticed the men hovering by the doorway and waved them over, the sudden movement making Wanda spark and Ava flicker.

Yep. Whatever the weirdos had together was destined from the start.

  
They exchanged a few words in german- and whilst he didn’t speak it Tony could make a pretty educated guess on what _Liebling_ meant. It was almost funny how oblivious Wanda was to Ava’s affection. The ghost stepped away from the witch, a little cautious under all the attention. “Hello. I’m Ava” She waved at Peter, the long sleeves hiding her hands.

 

“I’m Peter, I’m friends with your...Wanda. I’m Wanda’s friend. Can I ask how you’re visible? Or, when did you die?”

The ghost pulled a face, something between amusement and bewilderment. “You mean emotionally?”

“Ava isn’t dead, Petey, Ghost is her codename- Like Wanda’s the _scarlet witch_ ” and, bless the mess that was Peter Parker he almost seemed a little disappointed by that.

“I have unstable molecules” Ava explained to the teen. “They’re constantly breaking apart and fixing themselves since I was a child. Until about a month ago I was dying”

“Huh, how’d you fix that? Are you okay now?”

“Yes, a formally presumed dead scientist came out of the quantum realm and touched me, so I’m fine now” She bounced on the balls of her feet, nervous energy expelling off her in waves till Pepper redirected her attention.  

“I’m glad you’re better now, Sweetie” Pepper held out her arms to steer everyone to the dining table. “Who’s ready for Dinner?

Watching them young women navigate each other's aversion to touch was like watching a particularly awkward dance. Steve had told him about a time when Ava snuck up on Wanda, only to find herself flung to the ceiling in sparks of red and Tony had seen Wanda reach for Ava’s hand, only to to find it wasn’t on the same plane of existence at the time, leaving her grasping at the flickering mirage of her crush.

It wasn’t any different over dinner, they kept exchanging prolonged glances and breaking into silly grins, Ava outright stole a piece of chicken from Wanda’s plate and Tony braced himself for an onslaught of anger that never came. Food in Sokovia was precious and Wanda’s body had spent so long starving she was constantly afraid it would happen again. She _never_ shared food willingly.

  
(Until now, apparently)

  
Seeing Wanda laugh and grin and spill her heart wasn’t something Tony got to see very often- at least not in the daylight- but Ava managed to draw it out from her. Whatever distrust he had for the former assassin evaporated. Ava made his kid happy in a way Tony had never seen before.

He sort of loved her for it.

  
After dinner, they’d gone to the living room for drinks, a round of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows for Peter and a shot of Whisky for the legal adults in the room. He almost confessed to hacking into Ava’s file when she asked for a shot in hers and he told her no on the grounds of her being nineteen.

Maybe, he was being a little hypocritical. He’d been a drinker from a far younger age and he he let Wanda drink all the time (even if he was trying to get her on the straight and narrow).

With Wanda though, he knew what to expect (even if the outcome was a little different every time) and as much as he was coming to like Ava, he didn’t want to push his luck and end up with his throat slit.

The ghost didn’t seem to mind plain coco, not when Wanda fell asleep with her head in Ava’s lap. She looked delighted everytime her gaze flickered down to the sleeping girl and her fingers quickly started to run through Wanda’s dark locks, detangling them ever so gently.

“Thank you for letting me come, Mr Stark. Wanda talks about you a lot- all of you” She ghosted a finger over the other girls lips, quickly pulling away before anyone would notice. (They _all_ noticed).

“You seem happy together” Peter hummed softly, and Tony was tempted to kick him for being so damn obvious.

Luckily, Obliviousness was another thing they shared, as she just looked down at Wanda’s sleeping face as if she hung the fucking stars. “I am...I was angry for so long, but. There are good things, _precious_ things”

Pepper caught Tony’s eye, a wordless conversation passed between them as they both recalled drunk Wanda telling Peter something similar when they had a family meal ‘ _This family, Spider hands? This is good. There are good things after all’_

The witch denied saying anything of the sort, even if there were three people and an omniscient AI bearing witness to the verbal outburst.

“You know, I think Wanda said something similar once” Pepper gently told Ava. Even if it meant something different between them to what it meant when the witch spoke them.

Ava nodded, ghosted a hand across Wanda’s cheek before brushing through her hair again “Yes, that makes sense, she taught me what those things are” 

 

Hearing her put it like that, it sort of did make sense. It also felt like maybe - _finally-_ Wanda would get something to hold onto as well.

 

And if Ava ended up hurting her? Well if that ever happened, Iron man would could always perform an exorcism.


	2. Bonus chapter: First Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Bonus second chapter because I’m gay and so are these girls don’t @ me)

_'Cause I'm a beautiful wreck_

_A colorful mess, but I'm funny’ -honey, kehlani  
_

  
  


It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment Wanda stopped falling for Ava and became firmly head over heels, heart achingly in love with her.

 

(but It was probably the first time she got to hear Ava laugh, and the wind was knocked out of her by the colony of butterflies that apparently took residence in her belly because how could a sound so _beautiful_ possibly exist?) 

All Wanda knew was being around her was easier than breathing and it didn’t make sense.

Ava was messy like she was- all twisting thoughts wrapped in thorns, layers of self loathing and insecurities that seemed to drown out every other sound. But where Wanda was a wasteland Ava was a flower growing in concrete.   


She felt a lot like redemption, somehow.

 

So they stood on the edge of the rooftop of Tony Stark's penthouse for the third time that month and Wanda let herself get lost in the buzz of mutual joy and-

Pain.

Ava was hurting- again.

It was moments like that Wanda could say being an empath wasn’t _all_ bad, especially when the girl you’re totally gone for has a habit of ignoring it if her body starts to seize in agony again.

“It hurts bad? Should we go inside?”

“You worry too much” Ava told her, breath warm against her neck.

“Mm, one of us has to” Wanda often wondered why it was she’d ended up surrounded by people with no self preservation. Maybe she was just too alert to everyone else, a skill born from survival. When you spend your youth sleeping in cold alleyways a cough becomes more serious, like the time she'd nearly lost Pietro-

Her hands felt instantly clammy, her scarlet writhed and twisted beneath her skin like a caged animal desperate to strike out at whatever was making her heart quicken.

(If only her scarlet would attack her brain one of these days)

  
“Wanda? Stay with me” Ava gently streched her hand out between them, locked their fingers together. “Tell me what is it?”

She couldn't, not because she didn't want to, but because those feelings were drowing her from within and there wasn't any way to talk about it calmly, not in a language anyone shared with her.

So she grossly oversimplifed. “It’s just...not fair you’re in pain” Wanda hated how she sounded, all naive and childish, as though the universe owes anyone anything. If she’d learnt anything being alive, It was given the chance you’d always be kicked down.

“I just wish I could take it away” She told her. It almost felt like a lie- she didn’t just wish for it. She’d give anything to take away her pain, to stop the world being so harsh. Ava’s pain was nothing like the electrical storm that seemed to constantly pulse in Wanda’s brain. Ava’s pain was bone deep and endless.

“I probably deserve it" Wanda could feel the guilt pulsing under Ava's blasé facade. 

“No you _don’t,_ Ava. What happened to you wasn’t fair. _Isn’t_ fair"

Talking about it didn't change that though. They just had to accept it along with all the other terrible hands they'd been given. Apparently Ava came to that conclusion as well as she quickly tried to divert Wanda's attention to the lonely star above them. 

“Were there stars in Sokovia?”  
  
“Yes” _It’s what made it bearable. “_ They had some episodes of Doctor Who translated when I was little- Just when the war was starting to get bad again. We watched one, this girl fell into space and died floating through it. It scared Piet so much _Tata_ told us we weren’t allowed to watch it anymore, but I remember thinking It would be a nice way to go”

“That would be lonely”

“it’s always lonely, but that way It would be so fast, like falling asleep” The harsh edges of Pietro's death still lingered on her every breath, the sensation of the bullets-

Death had followed her for so long she'd forgotten how to live without it chasing her. 

“If I could go anywhere, It would be somewhere I could see the milky way. Nothing else just _stars_ ” Ava confided and Wanda tried to memorise how her velvet soft voice said those words. _milky way._

“I think, I too. it would be somewhere with flowers as well. I’d want Fields of them, and a sky of stars” Then the reckless part of her brain kicked in and before she could stop herself the next words tumbling out her mouth were “ _And you_ ”

 

Wanda’s heart thundered in her chest, practically begged the words to vanish into the night unheard.  

“And you” Ava echoed, her eyes dropping to Wanda’s lips for a moment and Wanda leaned in, tilted her head a little as their eyes locked.

 

And then they were kissing.  
  


When Wanda imagined kissing Ava, she thought it would be rough- a harsh violent thing like all the kisses that had come to her before. They were both broken, messy things shaped by death and violence, starved of the kindness and warmth that makes tender hearts.

 

It wasn’t like that at all.

 

When their lips met it was with such gentleness that the witch felt herself fall in love all over again. It was everything good in the world.

“ _Oh_ ” Wanda breathed. _volim te_ her mind suplied unhelpfully as she tried to grasp the right words.   
  


“I like you” Ava murmured against her lips.

 

It was like she'd cast a spell, with only three words the world disappeared to just the two of them and the faint glow of city lights behind them and the roaring buzzing sound in Wanda's ears as her lungs seemingly forgot how to breathe.

“Are you okay?” Ava frowned, her fingers pressed against her cheek. Wanda Maximoff, The street witch turned Avenger was crying because a pretty girl liked her back. “ _Wanda_?”

“Sorry, I just, I like you too” Wanda buried her face in the other girls shoulder. “I _really_ like you”

Wanda found herself repeating it, over and over like a prayer. it was too wonderful to be real. Things like this, good- beautiful things never happened to her. Still, if it was a dream it was one she never wanted to end, not till the perfect creature in front of her knew how deeply infatuated Wanda was.  
  


And then they were kissing properly, unschooled and awkward as they tried to master where-do-noses-go in a matter of seconds, but they were the most perfect seconds of Wanda’s life.  It was real and happening, the press of her lips against Wanda’s and the hitching of breath and the smell of Ava’s apple scented shampoo tickled her nose.

Her hands shook as they tried to memorise how soft Ava’s skin was under her fingertips and the press of her lips burned against her own till the awful, mutual shyness creeped over the both rendering them unable to speak as they broke apart for air.

“Uh. Can we, would we- please, coffee together _please_?” It was easy to loathe herself as she stumbled through English. It was just another punishment for all her sins- the girl she wanted to spill her heart to's first language was one she struggled to express her feelings in the right ways. 

Ava didn't seem to mind, her lips quirked a little, teasing her. Of course she knew what Wanda meant.

“Yes...or we could try dinner?” Ava prompted gently.

Wanda kissed her again.

“So...Was that a yes to dinner?” 

“ _Yes_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really wanted to write their first kiss but having your kinda dad there would be hell so they snuck onto the roof instead.
> 
> (Wanda waits till Ava goes back to Scotts place before she has a proper freak out on Tony because "WhAT if I kiss bad")  
> (Tony hates it but also loves it because her biggest problem in life is nolonger starving to death or being killed in a war but surpise you suck at making out)


	3. Shovel Talks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some gently probing, Wanda and Ava agree to let Scott ,Tony and Pepper meet. 
> 
> (Hello this is pre everything that was posted after! 💙)

Tony Stark knew almost everyone, and anyone he didn't know he knew off. Scott Lang fell into the latter category. If there was anything mysterious about him, it was simply because the billionaire hadn’t cared enough to research him.

In Tony's mind, Scott Lang was only interesting by the three following variables;  


  1. He was a frenemy of Sam’s-
  2. and something of a friend of Barton’s-
  3. and the catalyst for Wanda finding her first real love.  




It was only the third point Tony cared about and even then cared was to strong a word. It was more acurate to say, he cared about Wanda’s first love, not the hows and whys of their meeting. 

Since Wanda and Ava had started dating in the world's worst secret kind of way, they spent most of their free time together hauled up in Wanda's bedroom at the penthouse. Despite his initial indifference towards her Tony had found sentimentality won out because _holy shit, the broken shards of a girl that is Wanda Maximoff becomes a giggly mess like any other love drunk teen_. It was dizzying and wonderful and everything he wanted for his broken wreck of a Witch. Wanda had once told him ' _you deserve to be loved'_ in their strange secret time together and the words still reverberated within Tony long after the seasons had changed on them. Sometimes it was hard to believe it, but Wanda had an unnerving mix of age old wisdom and youthful innocence he wanted to believe her.

Ever since then, since those days of warming up to each other it's all he wanted for her too. Ava was that person, Ava could love his messy angry Ward in all the right ways, in the way she deserved.

 

(And Ava was pretty cool too.)

  
Almost a decade of flickering between the planes of reality had left her well versed in physics and philosophy, annoying Wanda to no end when she waxed lyrical about the laws of quantum physics with him.

Tony enjoyed their infrequent yet fearfully deep chats all the more for that. Wanda seemed desperate for Tony’s approval, something he didn’t quite get but got at the same time. He’d been the same around his dear old dad, and whilst Tony wasn’t exactly her dad, he was the closest she had. He wasn’t going to turn out like Howard, he wanted to show an interest in Wanda’s relationships, in her life.

He just sort of forgot Ava had her own relationships too. 

Yeah. Maybe that was a dick move, but since coming out to them Pepper gave Ava an open invite to visit whenever for unlimited mother henning and dinner. Ava had been more than happy to take them up on it because it meant she got to hold hands with Wanda.  


(God, Tony was starting to believe that they’d had an accident with some superglue. Young love is disgustingly sentimental like that)  


Ava just sort of became constant in their patchwork family, so Wanda announcing she wasn’t staying the weekend gave Tony an emotional whiplash he hadn’t expected to ever experience. 

“Did you break up already?” Tony asked bluntly. Pepper gave him a sharp elbow to the side. 

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Pepper asked, her pristine brows furrowed.

“Nothing? We are-”

"Wait you're not staying?" Pepper looked a little disheartened. “I made the Quiche you like”

“Sorry” Wanda shifted on the spot, guilt flooding her every molecule of being. “I'm going to Scott's house" Tony blinked once, twice

"Wait, where?" He asked.

"Um, I have the address-"

"No. I mean where?" Tony interrupted.

"Scott's house" Wanda repeated. 

"I think what your-” Pepper caught herself before she embarrassed the witch and the engineer. “I mean what _Tony_ is trying to ask is with _who_?"

"Scott lang. He said I can be over"

"Go over" Pepper corrected. "Who is he? Do we know him?" Pepper looked to Tony for an answer, but Wanda stepped up before he was forced to admit his embarrassing lack of knowledge.  

"The bug man Ava tried to kill. He... Introduce? I met Ava by him" Wanda explained, as if that answered everything. The worst part was it _did_. When did their everyday get so strange?

"Why'd he invite you?"

"Ava's staying with him till she finds her own place" Wanda explained. “She sort of tried to kill him, but he helped her and now they’re good friends”

Pepper beamed, sentimentality coming off her every pore. “That sounds familiar” 

“Shut up” Tony mumbled. "She doesn't live at the compound?"

"No she just um, visits me for training” Uhuh. ‘ _Training_ ’. How the other Avengers hadn’t caught on was a miracle. He’d seen them interact once and noticed the girls were in complete infatuation with each other. 

"If your staying over there want to meet him" Tony told her. Pepper gave Tony an affectionate nudge again, all knowing and secretive.

"What? Why?" Wanda frowned. Tony wasn't set on the answer to that. _Because he worries about her all the time? So he can check Scott Lang isn't secretly a serial killer? To make sure he knows exactly what to do If Wanda has a panic attack in the night?_

"Security" He settled for. Wanda wrinkled her nose but nodded in agreement.

"Fine. I will call Ava, maybe next week-"

“Oh no Sabrina. I’ll drop you off tonight” Oh god. He was becoming a cliche. The last time he’d seen such pure panic on Wanda’s face, he’d caught her in a lie about having done her homework. 

“Pepper could…?”

“Oh of course!” Pepper smiled, sweetness personified. “We can all go” Wanda let out a soft whine, excused herself in a hurry to the sound of Pepper’s laughter. 

“That was mean” Tony told her. Normally he was the one to mess with their Witch. Pepper just shrugged, adjusted her shirt sleeve. 

“Funny though” Well he couldn't argue with that.

 

 

 

The Address Wanda gave Tony took them to a neighbourhood nearly two hours drive away. It was nice, considering Scott was an Ex con living in a run down apartment with his former cell mates and a Ghost Assassin who tried to kill him once upon a time.  

Ava was waiting outside for them in a plaid shirt Tony remembered buying for Wanda when she first came to him and black skinny jeans. She bounced on the balls of her feet a little, waved in that shy nervous way of hers when she recognized the car. 

Wanda was already undoing her seatbelt before Tony had even parked, scrambling out the car like a comet so she could run to the Ghost. Ava caught her, lifted the witch up for a few seconds, swirling her around. Pepper cleared her throat, a far kinder way of getting their attention than Tony would have done. Ava sheepishly pulled apart from her girlfriend. “Um, Sorry. Hi! Scott’s tidying up, he told me to stall you”

“Is that so?” Tony raised an eyebrow. 

“Yep. He managed to kick Luis and Kurt out, but that meant he had to tidy on his own”

“Shouldn’t you be helping?” Wanda teased. 

“He is too proud. He keeps telling me guests do not tidy and won’t let me do anything” She rolled her eyes. “So. Do we go up?”

“Aren’t you stalling us?” Pepper asked. Ava shrugged, her hand seeking out Wanda’s. She kissed the Witch’s knuckles before turning to the battered green door and typing in the code. 

“He never said how long for” She was a menace. Another reason Tony sort of adored the Ghost.

 

 

 

Ava held open the door for them, before leading their small group up three flights of stairs and to an apartment on the left. The Ghost fiddled with the door a few moments before Wanda grew impatient and hexed the door with her scarlet. Tony made a mental note to offer to pay for a new door lock, but he wasn’t really sure it worked to begin with. 

There in the chaotic mess of a living room, in a dirty graphic T-shirt and torn jeans was the infamous scott Lang. He stared at them all a little dazed for a moment, dirty mugs in his hand that he was presumably in the middle of cleaning up. 

“Uh, Hey” He nodded, a little shell shocked at the intrusion. His hands waved helplessly at his side before he settled on holding it out for a shake. They both ignored him till Scott lowered his hand and wiped his palms on his jeans in an attempt to appear casual. “Yeah, uh, Hey. I’m Ant Man”

“You’re _Scott_ ” the girls chorused. Ava's arm had snaked around Wanda's waist as they claimed the holey arm chair for themselves. Pepper took that as a chance to take a seat on the green sofa pushed against the wall, fed up of waiting for an invitation to sit. Tony took residence beside her leaving Scott hovering awkwardly in his own home.

“Oh. right, of course. Real names. Sorry” He grinned at them and to Tony’s infinite surprise, Ava smiled back. Tony had seen her smile before. Everytime she looked at Wanda had her practically grinning but there was none of that nervous energy she normally exudes. “Scott Lang”

“I know” Tony told him. Scott didn’t seem to pick up on any hostility in his voice. Wanda and Pepper certainly did, the love of his life giving him a warning glare, his semi feral teenager withered in embarrassment. “You know who I am”

“Well duh! You’re Iron man!” Scott grinned like a school kid. “And you, Ms Potts, so cool! I’ve like, seen you on TV and stuff, so I know you. Anyway hey, Wandy Wanda! I didn’t think you’d come!" Pepper blinked, looked between the Witch and Scott.

"didn't you invite her, Mr Lang?" 

"Scott, please. And _yeah_ but she normally says no" He winked conspiratorially at them. “You guys win over me I think” 

"you never have good food in" Wanda told him bluntly. A wave of smugness settled over Tony. _He_ always had the right food in. 

“You mean I don’t keep weird rabbit food in”

“Then what are Lucky charms?” Ava asked. Wanda nodded enthusiastically, pointed her finger at her girlfriend in her strange gesture of ‘ _yes this_ ’. 

“Yeah yeah, I remember no more lucky charms” Scott teased. "Man, I gotta say you're the last person I expected to talk to me, uh, Mr Iron man"

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Really?” 

"I mean yeah, you're Tony Stark! My peanut loves you"

"Your what?"

"He means his daughter" Wanda explained. "She's really sweet"

"Have you met her?" She'd never mentioned it, It left Tony feeling odd somehow. Wanda told him _everything_.

"on Face time. Ava held her hostage once" Oh. Pepper tried her best not to look alarmed. It failed. Ava didn't seem to mind though, just awkwardly sat with Wanda on her lap their fingers lacing together. 

"Can we hurry this up?"

"Ava!" Wanda frowned. "But...uh  this is kind of embarrassing"

"Right" Scott gave her a thumbs up. "No worries. So uh, Listen, Mr Stark? Tony? Sir?"

"How about my Lord?" For a hot second, it seemed like he'd go along with that.

"Tony's fine" Pepper interjected. "Go on, Scott?"

"Uh...well" He looked awkwardly at the girls. "Shall we go through there?" He nodded to what looked like an office, or as close to one that could be. A table and a rickety wooden chair, a computer and stacks of pages. Tony really didn’t want to go in there. There were perfectly good, though a little worn) couch’s in the living room. One of them even looked like it hadn’t been used as a bed for several months. 

“Your office doesn’t have a door” Ava reminded him, confirming what the weird almost cupboard sized room was meant to be. 

“Fine” Scott fumbled around in his pocket before throwing $20 at her. “Go buy me Pizza. Something meaty. Try not to traumatise Mrs Goldstein this time” Ava gave a mock salute before taking Wanda’s hand. Wanda looked to Tony and Pepper for permission to go. Pepper nodded, made a shooing gesture with her hand.

 

 

They waited a moment for the girls to leave, waited for the echoing sound of footfall down the tiled stairs before Scott flashed a sorry expression. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that. I don’t want Ava to hear”

“Go on?” Pepper prompted.

"Right! Yeah, so uh Ava's great. I mean, she's kinda scary but she's the best and maybe i'm not Iron Man or something, but If Wanda hurts her she will pay"

"Are you giving me a shovel talk?" Tony laughed, incredulous.

"Yeah, listen man i’m gonna be upfront with you - your kid scares me"

"She's not-" Tony trailed off. "Don't let her feel your fear. It'll make it worse"

"Sounds ominous"

"Witch's often are" Pepper agreed. “Wanda’s an empath. She’ll know if you’re afraid”

“Yea, I know I got the gossip from The falcon” Scott told him before shaking his head. “Man the Falcon, you know? How crazy is this! I mean I’m talking to _you!_ The Tony Stark! My boss would kill me right now” 

“Your Boss?” Scott’s blindly optimistic energy faulted a moment. 

“Uh, nevermind! My Boss is not the point!” Scott shook his head. “Just I’ve been meaning to like, send an email or something maybe. Keep your kid in check. Ava’s like a kid sister you know? Like she was literally dying when I found her”

“Didn’t Ava hunt you down?”

“Well yes, but like, I let myself get caught” That sounds like a lie, but he Tony let it slide. Let the poor man have his Ego. He knew all about getting your super heroic ego destroyed by a supernatural teenager.  

“I just want to know Ava’s good, yeah?” Scott shrugged before propping himself on the large round table against the window. “Anyway, Wandy said you wanted to talk to me?”

Silence grew between them all, thick and syrupy. Scott got it immediately. “You wanted to say the same to me, didn’t you?”

“We care about Wanda- a lot” Pepper explained, as if that needed explaining. 

“Oh man, trust me I know. The kid adores you both” Scott knocked over a half full glass of flat coke to the right of him, a string of swears following his disaster. He didn’t seem like superhero material to Tony, he sort of felt like some bumbling college kid that just happened to be in his early thirties. 

“First time I met her, She was about to set off to your place. Sam- like the _actual_ Falcon- he told me how Wandy’s all fragile and stuff, said If I met her I should be careful cause she’s fragile and I don’t know, I was expecting someone like the Goth kids at my highschool. But she was so happy and excited to be seeing you guys, man It was...amazing. Made me think of my peanut when she came to visitation” 

“She was really that happy?” Pepper asked, tentative and hopeful. 

“She was _so_ happy! That’s when I decided I should introduce them, maybe some of it would rub off on Ava” It certainly had. 

Pepper handed over the vitamins from her handbag. “Make sure Wanda takes these okay?”

“No worries” He grinned. “You guys want to stay for Pizza?”

“Absolutely not” 

“Tony!” Pepper glowered at him. “But we should probably go, long drive”

“Suit yourself” Scott shrugged. “But really guys, I promise I’ll keep your daughter safe”

Tony didn’t bother denying it. He just stood, held his hand out in offer. Scott gladly jumped on the chance, his handshake firm and loose at the same time. Pepper followed form, squeezing uncomfortably tight on the Ant Man’s hand. 

“If a hair on her head is off, You’ll regret being born” Pepper told him plainly. “But we’d love for you to come for dinner some time”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hello Marija from the future here, coming back to this 100% done work to add this chapter for I am sentimental over a scene I just cut from the current wip. Months ago writing this I thought about a scene like this but cut it then because I felt it sucked. So surprise! c’: I don't know if this is called retcon but also This whole au is my retcon for post AOU so I do not care. If there is suddenly an new chapter on emergency contact, know that i'm almost at the end of editing the monster fic and it will be posted soon. 
> 
> (and it will be! I hope! I am just struggling staying clean so it's hard to focus writing because I'm all anxious and bad and afraid it won't be good enough so I keep reworking it over and over and everytime I open it I have to staple my hands to my skirt so I do not delete the file)
> 
> ANYWAY who has seen the mean goose game? I keep being tagged on facebook with this rascal goose screen shot (which fair). If I had a harry potter patronus I am a goose, but this goose from this game. I am too a menace of lawful society. Adding this chapter now at almost 8am Without sleep is proof.


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